O Paul’s KITH build

[opaul]

I got started on Chris’s knife today. He got a Bowie from me in the last one I participated in - but no Bowie this time. I know Chris likes to hunt and camp so I thought this knife would be a nice companion on those adventures. The steel is 52100 and construction will be a’3 piece knife’. Following are photos with comments.

 

[opaul]

Here is the knife after profiling on the grinder.

 

[opaul]

This blade material is thick so I thought I would taper the tang to help with balance. This is the first time I tried this so I didn’t get real aggressive.

 

[opaul]

Ready to grind with the file guard set.

 

[opaul]

After grinding to 120 grit I filed and rounded the spine.

 

[opaul]

Before calling it quits I drilled the tang and I did a little 180grit grinding.

 

[Chris Railey]

Awesome, that will skin a deer! Also I have never had/made a knife with 52100 so that is cool too.

 

[opaul]

Any preference for handle material?

 

[Chris Railey]

No sir, whatever you like to work with is fine.

 

[J. Doyle]

I like the profile of that.

 

[opaul]

Got Chris’s KITH heat treated along with a couple of others yesterday.

 

[opaul]

Got the scale removed and it’s ready for the final hand sanding.

 

[mike miller]

Easy way to taper. Mark your butt and draw edge line similar to knife edge. Take from guard area and hollow grind with a small wheel to butt. Start your flat grind. I hold verticals and press in on butt to start. Work until you bring it up to guard area.?Repeat on other side.
I then go to flat disc and make sure is even.
I drill holes while still a flat piece of steel.

 

[opaul]

Easy way to taper. Mark your butt and draw edge line similar to knife edge. Take from guard area and hollow grind with a small wheel to butt. Start your flat grind. I hold verticals and press in on butt to start. Work until you bring it up to guard area.?Repeat on other side.
I then go to flat disc and make sure is even.
I drill holes while still a flat piece of steel.

I pretty much did as you suggested but didn’t think to do a hollow grind first.

 

[mike miller]

The hollow grind removes material faster than trying to just flat grind it.

 

[opaul]

Finally got back in the shop today and resumed working on Chris’s knife. I decided to go with stag to match up with his KITH Bowie. I backed the scales up with black G10 liners. The stag was given to me as a gift for a custom knife; the elk was harvested in Colorado

 

[opaul]

I mounted the scales temporarily and drilled the pin and lanyard hole.

 

[opaul]

With the scales mounted I used the grinder to get them very close to finished shape and did some side profiling.

 

[opaul]

Mixed the epoxy up and got the scales mounted and clamped up.

 

[MTBob]

OPaul, nice looking knife.
Just curious, what's the width of the handle?